The Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing
to examine the constitutional validity of Section 6A of the Citizenship Act
relating to illegal immigrants in Assam on December 5.
Section 6A in the Citizenship Act was
inserted as a special provision to deal with the citizenship of people covered
by the Assam Accord.
The provision provides that those who
have come to Assam on or after January 1, 1966 but before March 25, 1971 from
specified territories, including Bangladesh, as per the Citizenship Act amended
in 1985, and since then are residents of Assam must register themselves under the
Section 18 for citizenship.
As a result, the provision fixes March
25, 1971 as the cut-off date for granting citizenship to Bangladeshi migrants
in Assam.
As per the cause list uploaded on the
apex court website, a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice DY
Chandrachud, Justices Surya Kant, MM Sundresh, JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra
would take up the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
While hearing the matter in September,
the apex court had said the title of the proceeding shall be, ‘In Re: Section
6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955.’
“During the course of the hearing, it
has been agreed that the contesting parties shall consist of (i) those who are
challenging the constitutional validity of section 6A of the Citizenship Act
1955 on the one hand; and (ii) those including the Union of India and the State
of Assam who are supporting the validity of the provision,” stated the Bench in
its September 20 order.
Several petitions are pending on the
issue in the top court.
Under the Assam Accord signed by the All
Assam Students Union, the Assam Government and the Centre on August 15, 1985 to
detect and deport the foreigners, Section 6A was inserted to the Citizenship
Act to grant citizenship to people who have migrated to Assam.
A Guwahati-based NGO challenged the Section
6A in 2012, terming it arbitrary, discriminatory and unconstitutional, claiming
it provides different dates for regularising illegal migrants in Assam.
A two-judge Bench had referred the
matter to the Constitution Bench in 2014.
PTI
